Mississippi State hot board: Eight candidates to replace Zach Arnett as Bulldogs head coach

Zach Arnett was fired as Mississippi State’s coach Monday before he could even complete one season on the job. The Bulldogs promoted then-defensive coordinator Arnett after the sudden passing of coach Mike Leach last December.

The way Mississippi State structured Arnett’s deal made it feel like an extended interim arrangement. Mississippi State owes Arnett $4.5 million over the next three years, but the deal includes offset language. That means if Arnett gets another job, his new salary will be subtracted from the amount Mississippi State owes. And Arnett is expected to be quite in demand as a defensive coordinator.

But who will Mississippi State hire? The man doing the hiring is first-year athletic director Zac Selmon, a longtime Oklahoma lieutenant who took over in Starkville in January. The Bulldogs have shown in the past decade that they can be an above-average SEC program, but given that they’ll annually be competing in a divisionless SEC against Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Auburn and Texas A&M, above-average might be the ceiling. But there are plenty of coaches willing to try to break that ceiling.

Dan Mullen, ESPN commentator

Does Mullen want to get back into coaching? We don’t know. We do know he’s very good on television. We also know he knows how to win at Mississippi State. He went 69-46 in nine seasons there from 2009-17. He won eight or more games in five of those seasons. That got him the job at Florida, where he had three successful seasons before everything crashed down in 2021.

But Mullen’s end at Florida doesn’t disqualify him for this job. Mississippi State’s coach isn’t expected to beat Georgia and Alabama for recruits. So the main reason Mullen was fired in Gainesville isn’t an issue in Starkville. Maybe he’s happy in television, but Selmon has to at least ask if a return might be possible.

Manny Diaz, Penn State defensive coordinator

Diaz was Mississippi State’s defensive coordinator twice under Mullen, and both tenures were successful. Also, Mario Cristobal’s first two seasons at Miami have shed new light on how difficult that job really is. Diaz was doing a better job there than most realized.

Plus, he’s been excellent at Penn State. If the Nittany Lions had an offense anywhere near as good as their defense, they’d be national title contenders.

Jon Sumrall, Troy head coach

The 41-year-old Sumrall was the co-defensive coordinator at his alma mater Kentucky before taking over at Troy, where he is 20-4 in two seasons with a Sun Belt title. The Trojans play ferocious defense, ranking No. 12 in the nation in yards per play allowed.

Most of Sumrall’s career has been spent working at schools (Troy, Tulane, Ole Miss, Kentucky) that recruit the same region as Ole Miss. He’d hit the ground running, and he’d know who to hire.

Lance Leipold, Kansas head coach

Everyone wants Leipold, who has engineered one of the best turnarounds in the history of college football at Kansas. He could be a candidate at Michigan State. Texas A&M should take a look. Kansas will almost certainly put together a huge offer to keep Leipold.

But this is a call worth making. Leipold won six Division III national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater. He turned around Buffalo. Then he worked a miracle at Kansas.

Willie Fritz, Tulane head coach

Fritz is 63, but he’s a spry 63. He’s won everywhere he’s been, from Central Missouri to Sam Houston State to Georgia Southern to Tulane. He’s 20-3 in the past two seasons at Tulane, and his eight seasons in New Orleans have given him a good understanding of the region.

If this sounds a lot like Leipold, it should. But the difference is Fritz is probably more gettable than Leipold, who is in demand everywhere.

Rhett Lashlee, SMU head coach

Lashlee, a longtime Gus Malzahn protege, seemed to be on the fast track to an SEC head coaching job when he served as Auburn’s offensive coordinator early in Malzahn’s tenure there. But that didn’t work out as intended, and he went on an odyssey that took him to UConn, SMU (as OC) and Miami (as OC) before he finally got to show what he could do with a program of his own.

Turns out he’s pretty good at this head coach thing. Lashlee, 40, is 15-8 in his second season since taking over for Sonny Dykes. He’s an Arkansas native who has coached and recruited in the region for most of his career. He certainly would fit, and his teams would score points.

Jamey Chadwell, Liberty head coach

The reason Chadwell isn’t already a Power 5 head coach is that his chosen career path — winning as a head coach at the Division II, FCS and Group of 5 levels — has left him with no Power 5 recruiting experience. But just like Leipold and Fritz, there’s something to be said for winning everywhere. Chadwell won at North Greenville. He won at Charleston Southern.

He won big at Coastal Carolina. And he’s currently 10-0 in his first season at Liberty. Would he leave after only one season? Maybe not. Liberty can afford to pay like a much bigger program. But good SEC jobs don’t open every day.

Glenn Schumann, Georgia defensive coordinator

Schumann went to Alabama as an undergrad to learn to be a college football coach and judging by the career the 33-year-old has put together so far, he learned quite well. Schumann became Alabama’s director of football operations at 24, and he was one of Kirby Smart’s first hires when Smart left Tuscaloosa to become Georgia’s head coach.

He worked under Mel Tucker and with Dan Lanning at Georgia, and he now runs the defense alongside Will Muschamp. The hope with Schumann is that he’ll work just like Lanning did at Oregon. He certainly has the pedigree.